Review of Paul Moser's The Elusive God: Re-Orienting Religious Epistemology

HT (Hat tip): Former team member here at DC exapologist links to it.

Exapologist links to a review written by Bruce Russell who concludes:
It was brave of Moser to write The Elusive God, for he recognizes that it is a radical book, offering what many philosophers will take to be unconvincing evidential reasons for belief in God and unconvincing practical reasons for having a relationship to God, as well as proposing a radical view of what the aims and goals of philosophy should be (p. 239). By writing this overly long book (it could easily be cut in half) with the content it has, Moser puts his own philosophical reputation at risk, which I believe he realizes but does not care about because it has little value in comparison to what he believes God has called him, and everyone, to do. I hope that those who read his book, especially agnostics and atheists, will not be deterred from reading his other work in epistemology, for I am in almost complete agreement with his non-doxastic evidentialism that has non-propositional experiences as its foundations and inference to the best explanation providing support for beliefs based on those experiences. It's Moser's application of that general view to the issue of belief in God that I find problematic. He sees evidence and good God-invoking explanations of religious experiences where I see none. No doubt he will attribute this to my spiritual blindness, and that, ultimately, to my selfishness and pridefulness. Of course, I think that his views about theistic evidence and explanation rest on wishful thinking.

1 comments:

Angie Van De Merwe said...

I was in converstion a few days ago with someone who was trying to convince me of 'evidence", which I didn't acknowledge.

But, he did get me to acknowledge that I was open to being "convinced"...I told him if God existed then He would know how to convince me...

But, as I have reflected on my statement, I wonder if I really am open to being convinced, in the first place...Or is my mind made up? Would I see and understand experiences, as you said, wishful thinking...And to be honest, because of the way I think and approach believers these days' I think I would explain it away.